PORTLAND, Maine — A nonprofit association dedicated to protecting Maine’s wild islands has filed a lawsuit against its former business manager accusing her of embezzling $117,000 over a 4½-year period.

The Maine Island Trail Association is suing Patricia Dano of Naples in Cumberland County Superior Court. The Portland-based group says Dano forged the executive director’s signature on association checks to pay herself and creditors, used an association credit card for personal use and made payments on her own credit card using the association’s money.

The Portland Press Herald said Dano, who was dismissed earlier this winter, could not be reached for comment.

The Maine Island Trail Association is a membership organization that oversees a 375-mile chain of more than 180 coastal island sites along the Maine coast.